The Fractured Body: The Eucharist and Anglican Division

Eugene R. Schlesinger

This article confronts the ongoing reality of intra-Anglican
divisions, both in North America and within
the broader Anglican Communion. Beginning with a treatment of Augustine of
Hippo’s doctrine of the totus Christus,
I suggest that the proper criterion for ecclesial communion is the recognition
of one another as members of Christ, rather than doctrinal or ethical
teachings. I then supplement this criterion with a definition of ecclesial
unity drawn from Ephraim Radner. The church’s unity is not a unity of
consensus, but a unity that embraces even one’s enemies. Finally, I propose a
reading of the eucharistic fraction rite that synthesizes its twin dimensions
of sacrifice and communion. This understanding of the rite opens up the
imaginative space for an emergence of the will to reunion.